Opposition activist sentenced to 2 1/2 years for planning riots

Prosecutor demanded Lebedev to be sentenced to 5 years in prison

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MOSCOW, April 25 (Itar-Tass) – The Moscow City Court on Thursday sentenced Opposition activist Konstantin Lebedev, an aide to Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov, to 2.5 years in jail for involvement in disturbances in Moscow's Bolotnaya Square last May and planning riots in the country. The resolution was passed by judge Podoprigorov.

In passing the verdict, the court took into consideration the information about the defendant's personality and his cooperation with the investigator, and meted out the punishment "below the low threshold". It said given the circumstances of the case, a penalty other than imprisonment was not possible.

The prosecutor for the state had demanded five years in prison for Lebedev.

Lebedev, who had been under house arrest, was taken in custody in the courtroom. He will serve his sentence in a general regime penitentiary.

The criminal case against Lebedev was reviewed under special procedure as he had signed a plea bargain agreement. He had fully admitted his guilt and repented.

The investigator said "Lebedev, together with Sergei Udaltsov, Leonid Razvozzhayev and Givi Targamadze, on May 6, 2012, with the view of encroaching upon the principles of security and stability of the society and unsettling the socio-political situation in the Russian Federation, organized mass disturbances in Bolotnaya Square, accompanied by violence against government representatives and destruction of property."

Continuing their illegal activity in 2012, the accomplices planned further riots in Russia. To this end, they set up the so-called training camps in various Russian regions, including Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd, Kazan and Lithuania, recruited participants in mass disturbances, and engaged in organization and preparation activities which later were stopped by law-enforcement personnel.

It follows from the indictment that Lebedev, Udaltsov and Razvozzhayev had received remuneration from Georgian politician Targamadze for planning and preparing riots in Russia.

"Lebedev set the sum of remuneration at 50,000 roubles for himself, Udaltsov and Razvozzhayev," prosecutor Mikhail Reznichenko said at the trial.